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Snowball systems, prize draws and competitions

A sub-form from lotteries are the lottery-like undertakings as snowball systems, prize draws and competitions. The Federal Council exercised its legislative powers and ruled in connection with the enactment of that these lottery-like undertakings were subject to the ban on lotteries (LGA, Art. 43).
The Federal Office of Justice recently issued the following media release on the issue:
In this area, there are many issues and areas in common with the Federal Unfair Competition Act (UCA) the enforcement of which is the responsibility of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, seco.

Beware of false lottery win notifications:

English-language letters and e-mails informing the recipient that they have won an apparently large sum of money in a foreign lottery have recently been discovered in circulation in Switzerland. The Federal Office of Justice urges anyone who receives such a communication not to respond, much less to pay the administration fee that is demanded before the alleged lottery win will be paid out.

The "World Lottery Association" warns also against fictitious lottery organizations.
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